Drilling polymer clay beads without doing holes...

How odd.  

I found this trick on Parole de Pate, a very useful French website, some time ago. There is a very good tutorial (with a slightly different method) on the website… for whom reads French.

This tutorial is for polymer clay lentils, such as these ones, these ones, that ones

For those who already know about it, of course, nothing surprising. But I was asked, a few days ago, how on earth I could put lentils without holes on a wire, so here is the answer.

After baking the lentil a first time:

. cut (I use a small cookie cutter) two round pieces of the same diameter than the lentil in a sheet of matching (or not) clay.

. stick one behind the lentil (be careful not to let air bubbles between them, start from the middle towards the edges)

. place a small metallic (or made of something that can be baked) cylinder such as a big needle or a bit on the lentil and cover with the second round piece of clay. The needle or bit has to be (approximately) the diameter you want your hole to be. Don’t place it in the middle of your lentil (the lentil will spin around the wire if it is) but rather a little bit higher. Make sure the second round piece of clay is carefully stuck to the first one, around the needle. This piece of clay sheet can be a little thinner than the first one and a little smaller. But don’t make it too small as, if it is, the lentils are likely to place on top of each other when on the wire. 

Better with a picture: